A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Gladiolas!!

Good news is that they actually bloomed this year!
The bad news is that I haven't a clue what to do after they bloom!

Do I cut the flower stem? If so where, when & how? I guess I just never really figured that they would bloom since last year they just produced greenery.

Once it's completely finished blooming, you can cut the stem where it starts to come out of the foiliage, but make sure you leave the foliage so it can get energy to bloom next year.

Is that they are. Producing only greenry the first yr.? I planted some in a large pot. They are very green, but I don't see any sign of flowering.

All of the ones I planted bloomed the first year!

some do bloom the first year (most do) but in my life time of growing glads (they are the first flowering plant i can remember ever) i have had a couple of batches that didn't. and one batch, i had planted too deeply. not sure what to tell you besides that!

oh, they do make great cut flowers, and are a florist's favorite!

Oh good, maybe it will still happen. I can't remember what color mine are.

depending on when you plant them they can come up later in the year too right? I'm sure mine were much later last year than this year. Last year was their first year in the ground.

You know?.... I do not actually remember when I planted them last year...but this I was convinced that they were not going to bloom again because it was sooooo long from the time the foiliage seemed mature to the blooming point. Seems like they took forever!

Next year I am going to 'time' those buggers!

Thanx for the tip Alan!

Ya'll know what IS strange tho? I planted all of the Glad bulbs at the same time but they bloomed at different times...here's the twilight zone part ...and when they bloomed; all of the orange bloomed first, the yellow second and a pale yellow/almost white last.

Straaange und unjusual? Or no?

differnt colors can and do bloom on a different schedule. mine are blooming in "waves" with the different colors blooming at differnt times.

I am still waiting on mine to bloom as well and looking forward to seeing what colors I have. Once mine open up almost to the bottom, I will be cutting them for indoor blooms.

Mine came into bloom today and they are looking great. I'm thinking maybe I should be looking at getting some different colors. But then maybe not. Decisions decisions lol. One thing I know is that making the twine grid is working great helping them stay upright without having to stake each one. Because with 13 plants this year I definitely would have been hurting for stakes. This way I only needed 4 and I could afford the pretty ones at the dollar store. They even held them up during the heavy rains we had yesterday and today.

tkhooper,please explain the twine grid, and do they usualy need staking?

Good request buzylady! I was wondering about that grid business myself

mine look terrible this year
im thinking ive got an infestation of thrips
(looked it up on the web)
the flowers are malformed and the flower stalks have weird bends in them. ive tried dusting with sevin but i dont think they are gonna recover.
oh well,i may have to dig all of em out and get new stock next year.

Last year I just put two long bamboo sticks in the ground, one on each end of the bed....then I tied some twine from one end to the other.....it stopped them from falling forward because they get pretty tall and heavy....so yep they usually need staked up with something.

This year I have about 25 of them throughout the yard!

I plant mine a lil deeper.I bought a couple new bags this year also. my mixed bag on clearance for $2 really sucked.My 4 bags from family $ were great.the red ones did have falling issues,but some stayed upright due to other plants.Its called traderhorn a midseason bloomer.



I didn't get pics of pricillia its a blend of pink/white/yellow.

http://www.bloomingbulb.com/XQ/ASP/...lower.Priscilla/QX/cartProductDetail.htm

When I can tell the stem is not going to form seed,I'll snip it off.My Family$ glads were planted& blooming in 60 days& the other 10 should bloom july 4thish(I counted 60 days dug& sunk)I use to grow these in Indpls.I had 250 plus bulbs I dug up EVERY LABOR DAY! to store till May. a 30 gallon trashcan with peat moss.I'm SOOOOO GLAD 2 not have do that anymore.I use to plant out 9 rows 23 ft long& would bloom over a 10 week period.I even made the paper once.

25! Wow! I'll bet that is a gorgeous site when they're in bloom!

I have, roughly, 10 and only one started getting a bit tipsy and had to be staked. They are not the short variety, so I was wondering... do they get taller each new season?

That is a great pic njonit! Just beautiful!

What is that ferny-ish greenery called?

Oh say Now I see.
I think my flowers are drowning. It is raining again. At least I don't have to drag the hose around to water everything. But I've have to drain some water from my pond before it overflows. When the sun finally comes out I'll be pulling weeds galore.

ferny stuff is cosmos.it really DON'T need fertilizer,but some DO grow 5 ft tall....those are close......and the thicker stemed one will be 5 ft.was a mix of pinks,burgandy,white.

I planted my glads, from bulbs. They are tall with 5 flower heads on them, I spaced mine 30 days apart with a planting in the back yard.

I grew up in Indy we never dug our glads up and they have been coming back year after year. Grandma has them all along her fence line and has for as long as I can remember and I know she didn't dig hers up eithor.

I have purple buds and I planted some called fire cracker they looked red and white stripped I sure hope they bloom but it appears that the purple are the first to bud, I mixed them up in each batch so hopefuly they will time them selves just right and I will have one color right after the other.

I started out with 9 bulbs last year and I have 13 this year. I'm really looking forward to next year. And then I'll de-clump and spread them out somemore. That's if I'm still hear. It looks like they are getting closer and closer to selling the building and widening the road.

When is a good time to plant Glads? I live in FL where its quite hot already in zone 9a

Thanks, David

Hi David,

It's usually suggested that you start planting them in early spring and stagger the planting doing some every two weeks so that so will be blooming through out the summer. I don't know anything specific about zone 9a. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

david, they can go in the ground nearly anytime in florida, as long as they get adequate water until they are established.